As voters get ready to line up at the voting polls, Proposition 24 is one of the thirteen statewide propositions on the ballot this election. The proposition would alter the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 or CCPA, which mandated that companies disclose the information they were collecting and how it would be used and give consumers the power to request that information collected be erased and not sold to third-party companies. It would also broaden it from “selling’ to “sharing” information with third-party sellers. Information can include things like a person’s name, address, geolocation, financial, or even biometrics like a fingerprint or face. 

For example, when visiting a website like Vogue or any other site, a pop-up will appear asking to opt-out of data collection or having to scroll to the very bottom of the page and have to click on a tab that states “Do Not Sell My Information.” Alternatively, when one searches on their phone for a new product to buy and suddenly when scrolling through Instagram, and see that product advertised. Medium.com best explains it as, “When you visited the site and clicked on the Charles Dickens book collection link but didn’t buy it, the cookie on the site stored this information as a potential future purchase.” The cookies are pieces of information collected and made to follow the consumer as a reminder to purchase the product. 

According to The New York Times Opinion article by Greg Bensinger, “Notably, it gives Californians the right to seek to prohibit sharing of their data, as opposed to just prohibiting its sale — a loophole tech firms have been using to keep distributing personal information.” However, it would make it an even more tedious process to opt-out of data collection, having to go through multiple steps to avoid personal information collection. 

The Drum.com states, “[The CCPA’s] definition of personal data includes purchase information, geolocation data, online identifiers, IP addresses, and even inferences drawn from such information to create consumer profiles” and “give consumers explicit notice of – and allow them to opt-out from – the selling or sharing of personal consumer data.” The “ sharing” is the crucial part because a company might not sell your information but “share” it with a third-party.

However, the Electronic Frontier Foundation also argues that Proposition 24 would “exempt “loyalty clubs” from the CCPA’s existing limit on businesses charging different prices to consumers who exercise their privacy rights,” and “Allow a business to withhold a discount from a consumer, unless the consumer lets the business harvest granular data about their shopping habits, and then profit on disclosure of that data to other businesses.”

There is a saying that if something is free, then the person is the product. It is a grim reminder that as someone uses Google to research and inform an opinion on this topic, companies collect information on what websites people are visiting, compiling this information to form a picture of who someone is, and selling it to a third party. Though someone might not have total control over what is done with that information or how it could be used regardless if it is harmless or not could be a scary feeling. However, it is essential to be aware of how to change this and be informed and vote on laws to catch up to how technology and privacy are rapidly changing.